Events tagged with "Matador"

The infamous Bull Ring Shopping Centre was built on the site of the historic Bull Ring markets. It was opened on May 29 1964 and had cost an estimated £8 million. The shopping centre covered 23 acres and had 350,000 sq ft of retail trade area. When o...

Pre 1960s
Prior to the 1960s, and well into the 1970s there appears to have been very little opportunity indeed for lesbians to get together openly in a social or public space. All the bars noted as being popular with the gay crowd in the 40s and 50...

Memories tagged with "Matador"

G: “The Greyhound in Holloway Head must have just opened (around 1975)
because I can remember Den and Sharon who’d founded it. Basically,
they’d gone round all the pubs in Birmingham to find somewhere that
would take a women only group, which would h...

“The Lesbian and Gay Community Centre discos went on at the Matador for years, alternating I
think with Switchboard discos. I liked it very much, at times there
were a lot of women, times more women than men, or vice versa, I always
felt OK there, I ...

During the eighties Mary
visited various pubs and clubs in Birmingham including The Matador, where the
old Bull Ring market was, which was quite a good gay venue, with a women's disco
every Friday which attracted a broad spectrum of women. She, an...

“I came out to a social with Birmingham
Friend that used to be held at a pub at the Holloway Head (The Matador) which
was a straight pub but the landlord was gay-friendly. He let a room out of a
Friday night. I was quite shocked and a little naive...

“Prior to the Nightingale moving into town (Thorp St) in 1981 there was
nothing in the city centre other than the original Gay Community Centre
discos in Allison Street, bring your own booze, and 25p for a baked
potato, that sort of fund-raising. So ...

When Inge first came out in the mid 80s “There was hardly anything
in town, (for women), apart from the Matador (Lesbian Line discos). I
didn’t go to the Nightingale much. I first socialised at the Jug
approx. 1992, but it was very hard to get into t...

Inge started going to ‘The Matador’ (where new Bullring market is
now). Lesbian Line fundraiser discos were held on the 2nd and 4th
Friday and the third Saturday each month, during the period from around
1985 to 91/92. (Lesbian Line was then separate...

Belinda recalls “The Police had a 12 year old boy who had been picked up for cottaging.
The police were concerned that he was being exploited by older men and
directed him towards the discos at The Matador feeling that this would
be a much safer venu...

Fortunately Bridget somehow got
hold of the number of the Gay Switchboard in the late seventies. They said “Come
along and have a drink”. This was an important moment for her as volunteers
arranged to meet her at the monthly lesbian disco at the M...

During this period in the
late eighties Mary, a teacher, was still paranoid about being found out by pupils, and said “You
didn’t need Clause 28 to be silenced!” However she was spotted coming out of the
Jester by some kids and it all blew up. T...

“The Gay Community Centre discos went on at the Matador for
years, alternating I think with Switchboard discos. I liked it very
much, at times there were a lot of women, times more women than men, or
vice versa, I always felt OK there, I never felt o...

Bridget said there wasn’t really a gay area 9around the mid to late 1970s), but places dotted over the city, the Grosvenor Hotel up Hagley Road,
the Greyhound (Holloway Head) at Five Ways, the Matador in town, the Jester,
mainly men, the Silver Web...

Lyn became involved with Switchboard from 1983 to 2000. “I started
training on the first Saturday after New Year in 1984. It was a fairly
successful organisation with 20 or so regular operators. There was a
separate Lesbian Line on Wednesdays but sti...

Lyn said, “I started socialising, but didn’t become involved in the Lesbian and Gay Community Centre management until 1985. By 1980, the original Gay Centre in Digbeth had closed, being faced with huge repair costs they’d decided not to renew the lea...